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Sunday, January 8, 2017

Little bits of progress here and there

Since New Years I have been doing a little work in different parts of the layout.

Test fitted the section of backdrop that will be behind the Wesso section of the layout. Trimmed the bottom a bit to fit around the higher bench work of Winnemucca seen here on the right side of the photo.

I took a few test photos of some locomotives on the track in front of this back drop to see how things looked and was quite happy with the results. Makes me want to get all 24 feet of the back drop I have installed soon.

There was a good sized border at the end of the back drop section behind Winnemucca that I trimmed off to test with different adhesives on a piece of the FRP. This back drop is vinyl and I wanted to know the adhesive I use would not adversely affect the material.

Here are the results so far:

3M Super 77 Spray - I had used this with very good results on a module. That backdrop was a different brand and material. Glad I tried it out on a scrap from this back drop first as the results were awful this time. As can be seen in the photo, the adhesive reacted with the vinyl backing of the backdrop causing bulges and wrinkles.

Elmers Glue-All - The common white glue that many of us use for cork road beds, track, and scenery. I had also used this before on a backdrop on an old layout with good results. That back drop was paper backed. This seems to work well with this Backdrop Junction back drop with no interaction with the material and any that oozed out on the edges cleaned up easily and left no stain.

Roberts Vinyl Tile Adhesive - This was left over from installing the floor in the train room. While it holds well and gives a guy a little time to work with, anything oozing out on the edges easily stains the back drop.

Also did some work finishing up the bridge abutments on the Golconda section and installed some cork road bed on both lines on the approaches to the bridges. Need to get to the hobby shop for some more .060 x .060 styrene strip to finish the concrete sectional bridge in the rear.

On this rainy Sunday afternoon put together the LED light panels that go under the Carlin section. This photo shows the bench work sitting upside down with one panel open and the other closed. These LED light panels will light the staging yard.

3 comments:

HI Brad. Really love the look of your backdrops. Thought have you looked at using wallpaper adhesive. This stuff will give you time to position (it should allow the backdrop to slide)the backdrop without the dread of getting it stuck and not be able to correct its position. Maybe try a wall paper shop and ask.Good luck getting it mounted well.Rod.

Hi Rod, thanks for the suggestion. In fact I looked for wallpaper adhesive when I was in Home Depot yesterday but could not find any. The Elmers would be fine except that it does not seem to dry in the middle. I think the vinyl backdrop on a plastic substrate won't let it breath. Did pick up and test some photo spay adhesive recommended by the backdrop printer and it worked well so may end up going that way.